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Now Wrestling with Normalcy
People I know on the right tell me the way I continue to feel — unbalanced, lacking foundational equilibrium, wondering what shared values remain among our vast nation — that’s how they felt when...
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Petition to the President-Elect
Ask Donald Trump to Speak Definitively on Diversity and Inclusion In his first campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama gave an eloquent speech on race relations in the United States. He spoke to his...
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The Inaugural: A Modest Proposal
Word on the street is that entertainment options for the 2017 Presidential Inauguration are sparse, and that President-elect Donald Trump is not at all happy about being snubbed by Hollywood. My...
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Do You Want My Opinion?
It’s a new year. With another trip around the sun completed and ahead, we mortals often go to our cabinets to withdraw the long-procrastinated projects we someday hope to deploy. In that revitalized...
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Godspeed, Barack Obama
I found President Obama’s farewell speech magnificent. Maybe he did divide the nation. So did Abraham Lincoln. On matters of principle it’s necessary to force us to face our lesser selves. Social...
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Calling Out the Aberration
ab·er·ra·tion [ab-uh–rey-shuh n] noun; 1) the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course; 2) the act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type; 3) deviation from truth or...
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Tell Me About Your Day
Here’s something people often say in companies when you ask them what they accomplished last week, last month, or last year: “A lot of time is taken up by everyday stuff.” Let’s talk about that. What...
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You Call This a Loyalty Program?
Try this episode on for size and tell me how it makes you feel about the brand: I recently logged into one of my hotel loyalty accounts where I had amassed several hundred thousand points. That is, I...
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Inequality or Invisibility?
My wife and I spent this past Saturday morning volunteering for a college service project where we read stories to elementary school children in downtown Los Angeles. We have done this several times...
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And It’s One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?
I know people are exhausted with the political dialogue. I am as well. Government is not meant to be this far forward in our lives. It is meant to be the structural framework behind the scenes so we...
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Can We Talk?
Difficult topics, difficult times. It’s getting hotter out there. Is real conversation still possible? A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal got me thinking about that. It’s by Amanda Ripley,...
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You Can’t Fix Morale
Here’s a phone call I sometimes receive, usually from someone senior in executive management or the investment team behind a once promising company: Inquirer: Hey, we need your help with something. We...
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The Little We See
I discovered the NBC television series This Is Us in summer reruns this year and I have become obsessed with it. If you enjoyed shows like Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life, you’ll not only...
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Jerry’s Kids Forever
Labor Day weekend for me will always be connected to Jerry Lewis. His annual 21 ½ hour live telethon raised more than $2 billion over 45 years for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He died last month...
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Standing Your Ground
How do you know when it’s time to stand firm on a point and when it’s time to cave in and go with the flow? The answer is obvious: You never know, not for sure. The hardest calls are the ones you make...
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When Your Team Loses
The Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series last week. The Los Angeles Dodgers lost. It was an epic contest. Many have observed it was one of the greatest World Series match-ups in the history of...
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Tribal Ways and Open Doors
Few of us will ever have the opportunity to spend an extended period of time on an Indian reservation. If you don’t live or work there, it’s just not something you’re likely to do. You might drive...
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Every Hope is Worth Saving
It’s been a rough year. I’m not sure what to make of 2017. What we’ve seen this year on the public stage is unlike anything I can remember. We hear casual conversation about whether our elected...
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Dan Rather Live
Last week I attended a talk with Dan Rather, who is on the road in support of his latest book, What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism. Produced by Live Talks Los Angeles, it was an especially...
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Proactive Means Now
For many of us the new year begins with the best of intentions. It’s not so much that we delude ourselves in committing to resolutions we will never pursue as it is the open calendar before us filled...
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